Summer novena traditions bring Catholics together to pray for intentions, intercession
Worshippers filled the lawn of the Carmelite Monastery in Ladue as the sky faded to twilight on a pleasant July evening.
It was the final night of the 76th annual outdoor Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, nine days of prayer to the Blessed Mother that includes a Rosary, Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, outdoor Mass and special prayers.
After the homily, Sarah and Jerry Dorhauer were among a few dozen people who received a blessing of their brown scapulars, a sacramental associated with the Carmelites that is worn as a sign of devotion to the Blessed Mother.
The Dorhauers, parishioners and music leaders at St. Mary Magdalen in Brentwood, have been lending their musical gifts — Jerry on keyboard and Sarah as cantor — for one night of the novena for the past 10 years.
Father Mitch Doyen held a relic of St. Ann as St. Josephine Bakhita parishioner Faye Combs venerated the relic during the St. Ann novena hosted at the St. Nicholas Church site on July 19.
“The Mass is always the highlight,” Jerry said. “You see the same people that come, year after year — it’s like coming home to family.”
Sarah introduced Jerry to the brown scapular several years ago after learning about it by reading the lives of the saints. The scapular, and participating in the annual novena, are two ways they “try to do anything and everything we can to get to heaven,” Sarah said. “…And Mary is the gateway to Jesus — we can’t live without her.”
Novenas can be traced back to Jesus’ time, as recounted in the Acts of the Apostles. After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the apostles, Mary and other followers gathered in an upper room, where they “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer” until the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost nine days later (Acts 1). Our nine-day novenas imitate this period of intentional prayer in anticipation of the Holy Spirit.
Learning about that first novena inspired Karen Price, a parishioner at Incarnate Word in Chesterfield, to make them part of her prayer life. “I figured if it was good enough for mother Mary and the apostles, we should certainly carry that on,” she said.
Price has been participating in the Carmelite novena for several years and also prays Rosary novenas and others on her own.
Vince Njoroge, center, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Cottleville, joined other worshippers during the 76th annual Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Carmelite Monastery in Ladue on July 19.
“I’ve had some (novenas) that have been answered in a big way,” she said. “(Mary) never fails. She takes my intentions, she perfects them, and then she gives them to her son.”
Just like the saints, there’s a novena for just about anything. The novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was started by St. Margaret Mary Alacoque to encourage the faithful to unite their hearts with Jesus’ love. The All Souls Day novena is prayed for the dearly departed and souls in purgatory. A novena to St. Jude asks for his intercession in hopeless causes or desperate situations.
The USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities hosts 9 Days for Life, an annual novena in January for the protection of human life. Before Pentecost 2023, the Archdiocese of St. Louis joined together for a novena to the Holy Spirit as the All Things New parish announcements approached.
While most novenas are prayed over nine consecutive days, there are some variations. A 54-day Rosary novena includes 27 days of petition and 27 days of thanksgiving. St. Teresa of Kolkata sometimes prayed a “flying novena” of nine Memoraraes in a row for intentions that couldn’t wait nine days.
A novena is:
– Nine days of private or public devotion and prayer
– Often prayed through a specific saint’s intercession and for a specific intention
– Usually consists of a novena-specific prayer, some type of litany or petition/response prayer and often a hymn or canticle
– Comes from the Latin word for nine, novem
At St. Nicholas Church in Downtown St. Louis, Catholics gather for nine days each July to pray a novena to St. Ann, the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. The novena began in 1926 at the former St. Ann Church on Page and Whittier. In 1992, the parish merged with Visitation Parish, and the shrine to St. Ann and novena tradition moved there, then to St. Nicholas Parish in 2016 when Visitation-St. Ann closed.
Alice Prince started participating in the novena the first year it was held at St. Nicholas. “There was a powerfulness of the Holy Spirit, and there was just blessings on blessings on blessings that started coming,” she said. “You feel a certain joy, and you feel a certain peace, and you know it’s the Holy Spirit.”
This year marked the first St. Ann novena since St. Nicholas merged with Sts. Teresa and Bridget and Most Holy Trinity to become St. Josephine Bakhita Parish, noted Prince, the parish’s director of evangelization and communications. It was important to the new parish to continue the longstanding tradition as stewards of the St. Ann shrine, which has moved with changing parish communities over the years.
“It’s helping our community come together. All Things New was hard, but God specializes in broken pieces. God knows how to make a masterpiece from broken pieces,” Prince said. “Some of us were heartbroken from it. But this is part of having unity together, and it’s brought so many people outside of our community together to worship and pray with us.”
Venus Spain, who attends St. Matthew the Apostle Church and teaches science at Cardinal Ritter College Prep, has been participating in the St. Ann novena for more than 20 years.
“At a time in my life when my kid was trying to figure out what he wanted to do, that’s when I really went into it,” she said. “I was saying, ‘Lord, find something for my child to do.’ He ended up going into the Marine Corps, and he’s doing well. He’s been a Marine for eight years.”
“St. Ann, mother of Mary, grandmother of Jesus — through her intercession, prayers are answered,” she added. “Prayers work.”
More examples of novenas around the Archdiocese of St. Louis
Novena of Divine Mercy, leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday: stlreview.com/3Ylo05H
Novena to the Holy Spirit, leading up to Pentecost: stlreview.com/46ez7iF
Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe: stlreview.com/3Y9w1KO
Advent Novena at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary: stlreview.com/3Sj8pj4
Simbang Gabi, a traditional Filipino novena leading up to Christmas: stlreview.com/4bUCj4i
Novena to St. Josephine Bakhita: stlreview.com/3zUxs5F
Novena to St. Clare: stlreview.com/3LBl3WU
Resources
For prayer resources from the archdiocesan Office of Sacred Worship, visit https://resources.archstl.org/article/472656/prayer-resources
The site Pray More Novenas includes dozens of novena prayers and the chance to sign up to receive novena reminders through email. Visit praymorenovenas.com.
Worshipers gathered for the 76th annual Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Carmelite Monastery (Carmel of St. Joseph) in Ladue on July 19.
